Gentlemen, start your groveling.

The Big 12 Conference has announced it is beginning expansion exploration and could take on two to four new members as soon as the 2017 football season.

You might have already seen the dust and din raised by the stampede to get in line for one of the coveted spots. For schools mired among the low resource conferences such as, well, the Mountain West that the University of Hawaii calls home, this is a 24-karat opportunity to move to the other side of the tracks.

The Big 12 says it had already heard from about 25 wannabes for those few, choice slots and you can bet at least three of them from the MWC.

For all the well-crafted words you might hear about about the joys of MWC membership and solidarity, be assured that those who think — delusional or otherwise — they have a prayer of escaping are scurrying behind the scenes, beseeching the Big 12. In the coming days a lot of knees will be bent in supplication and prayers offered.

Not that it is hard to see why. The divide between the haves and the have-nots has never been greater and is widening by year. There are 65 schools in the mansion and 64 with their noses pressed against the glass.

With the other so-called Power Five conferences (Southeastern, Big Ten, Pac-12 and Atlantic Coast plus Notre Dame) having posted “no vacancy” signs a while ago, the Big 12 represents what may well be the last remaining opportunity to get a seat at the big table.

A former UH president once observed, “college (officials) might be the least collegial group there is, especially when it comes to athletics and money.”

And this gold rush is definitely all about the moolah it takes to be relevant.

Consider that, instead of the record $5.3 million Boise State took home a year ago in MWC distribution, full-share Big 12 teams currently have shares of upwards of $25 million, each. That is projected to rise to $35 million, each, next year and $43 million in 2024.

That helps pay for a lot of stadium expansion and renovation, coaching salaries, recruiting and cost of attendance stipends. All things that fuel the athletic arms race. Not to mention help driving booster contributions for successful schools.

Which is part of why Boise State and San Diego State jumped at the chance to join the Big East for 2013. When it imploded beneath them before they were able to play a game, they beat a hasty retreat back to the MWC. All the while keeping their eyes peeled for the next opening.

Meanwhile Colorado State is among those that have been campaigning for months, the Associated Press reported.

UH, burdened by geography that has it 3,493 miles from the nearest Big 12 member and 4,663 miles from the most distant, need not waste energy on prostrating itself. Even if it weren’t coming off five consecutive losing seasons.

Meanwhile, for everybody else, genuflecting practice is advised.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.